In the home stretch leading up to the presidential election, Sen. Barack Obama is easily out-advertising his presidential opponent, Sen. John McCain.
In seven key swing states — Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, Obama placed 150% more ad units (53,049 v. 21,106) than McCain between October 6 and October 22, 2008.
Obama’s advertising has been most prolific in Florida, where he ran 15,887 ads between October 6 and October 22, 2008, outpacing McCain’s 4,662 ads by 240%.

The final presidential debate between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama drew 56.5 million U.S. viewers Wednesday night, Nielsen reported Thursday.
The TV audience for the senators’ third meeting edged past that of their first debate at the end of September, which drew 52.4 million viewers, but was easily surpassed by the audience of 63.2 million that tuned in for the second presidential debate last week.
During the previous presidential campaign, 51.2 million viewers tuned in for President Bush and John Kerry’s third debate on Oct. 13, 2004.  (View complete historical debate ratings.)
As …

The combined overall household rating for Wednesday night’s final presidential debate, in the top 56 local television markets where Nielsen maintains electronic TV meters, was 38.3. 
In comparison, last week’s debate between Senators McCain and Obama — the candidates’ second – received a 42.0 household rating in the top 55 local TV markets.  The candidates’ first debate on September 26 received a 34.7 household rating in the top 55 markets.
Wednesday night’s championship baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies — aired by FOX, instead of the debate – may have impacted the …

On Tuesday night, 63.2 million U.S. viewers watched the second presidential debate between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama.
The TV audience for the senators’ second meeting easily surpassed that of their first debate, which drew an audience of 52.4 million on Friday, Sept. 26.
During the previous presidential campaign, 46.7 million viewers tuned in for President Bush and John Kerry’s second debate on Oct. 8, 2004. 
See more historical debate ratings.

CBS’s “NCIS” was the number one-ranked primetime telecast on broadcast TV for Tuesday, October 7, 2008, drawing an audience of almost 16.3 million average viewers.
ABC’s special presentation of “Dancing With The Stars” claimed second place, with almost 15.1 million viewers.  ABC’s post-debate analysis of the second McCain/Obama presidential debate rounded out the top three, with just over 9.9 million viewers.
Post-debate coverage on NBC, CBS, and FOX also made the top ten.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
NCIS
CBS
16,288,000

2
DANCING W/STARS RESULT SP(S)-10/07/2008
ABC
15,065,000

3
VOTE2008:ANALYSIS-TUE(S)-10/07/2008
ABC
9,917,000

4
DECISION ‘08:PRES ANALYS2(S)-10/07/2008
NBC
8,349,000

5
CAMPAIGN ‘08-DEBATE ANL-2(S)-10/07/2008
CBS
7,951,000

6
BIGGEST LOSER 6
NBC
7,265,000

7
HOUSE
FOX
6,365,000

8
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE TUE
UNI
5,634,000

9
CUIDADO CON EL ANGEL TUE
UNI
4,637,000

10
FOX NEWS: …

The combined overall household rating for Tuesday night’s second presidential debate, in 55 of the 56 local television markets where Nielsen maintains electronic TV meters, was 42.1.
In comparison, the first debate between Senators McCain and Obama received a much lower household rating (34.7) in the top 55 local TV markets.  Last week’s V.P. debate received a 45.0 household rating in the top 55 markets.
One rating point equals 1% of the total TV audience in a given market.
The Nashville market, where the debate was held, had the largest TV audience, with a household rating of 59.2, while the Sacramento/Stockton/Modesto, California market had …

If book sales were electoral votes, the U.S. presidential election would hardly be a close contest.
So far in 2008, four books published by Sen. Barack Obama between 2004 and fall 2008 have sold a combined 912,000 copies, according to Nielsen BookScan. 
In comparison, Sen. John McCain’s five titles, published between 1999 and summer 2008, have sold a total of 116,000 copies — almost 800,000 copies less than Obama.
Between January and September 21, 2008, McCain’s top selling book, “Faith of My Fathers,” sold 73,000 copies in hardcover, paperback, and audio editions. 
Obama’s top …

“Hockey moms” — famously invoked by Gov. Sarah Palin in her V.P. campaign speeches — may also have a passion for politics.
According to a Nielsen analysis released Tuesday, “hockey moms” — defined as women ages 25 to 54 who live in homes with children and who watched at least six minutes of the most recent Stanley Cup Finals on NBC – were more likely than average moms to watch the first two debates of the 2008 election.
Last Thursday, Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin’s V.P. debate drew 23.8% of all mothers (ages …

During the vice presidential debate between Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin last week, CBS and Nielsen tracked real-time reactions to the candidates from a panel of uncommitted, registered voters who allowed CBS and Nielsen to capture their real-time reactions to the V.P. debate. However, CBS notes that in many cases, the panelists were “leaning” towards the Obama-Biden ticket.
Watch CBS’s analysis.

As they watched the debate, panel members turned a dial between 0 and 100 to indicate their reactions to the candidates’ discussion. 100 indicates a “very positive” response, 0 …

Sixty-one percent of all U.S. households watched at least one of the two 2008 election debates aired so far, according to a new analysis released Monday by Nielsen.
On average, 41% of all homes watched the V.P. debate last Thursday — up one-third from the first presidential debate the previous Friday night, which reached an average of 31% of all households.
Of all households, 39% watched neither debate, while 30.3% tuned in to both.  11.2% of all homes tuned in to the presidential debate only, and 19.5% tuned in to just the V.P. debate.